Digital Affordances, Spatial Affordances, and the Genesis of Entrepreneurial Ecosystems

Forthcoming in Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal Special Issue on Entrepreneurial Ecosystems

45 Pages Posted: 20 Jul 2017

See all articles by Erkko Autio

Erkko Autio

Imperial College Business School; Tilburg University School of Economics and Management

Satish Nambisan

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Llewellyn D W Thomas

University of Navarra, IESE Business School

Mike Wright

Imperial College London

Date Written: July 14, 2017

Abstract

Entrepreneurial ecosystems command increasing attention from policy-makers, academics, and practitioners, yet the phenomenon itself remains under-theorized. Specifically, the conceptual similarities and differences of entrepreneurial ecosystems relative to, e.g., clusters, ‘knowledge clusters’, regional systems of innovation, and ‘innovative milieus’ remain unclear. Drawing on research on industrial districts and agglomerations, clusters, and systems of innovation, we suggest that entrepreneurial ecosystems differ from traditional clusters by their emphasis on the exploitation of digital affordances; by their organization around entrepreneurial opportunity discovery and pursuit; by their emphasis on business model innovation; by voluntary horizontal knowledge spillovers; and by cluster-external locus of entrepreneurial opportunities. We highlight how these distinctive characteristics set entrepreneurial ecosystems apart from other cluster types, propose a structural model of entrepreneurial ecosystems, summarize the papers in this special issue, and suggest promising avenues for future research.

Keywords: entrepreneurial ecosystem, digital affordance, spatial affordance, business model innovation, architectural knowledge, startup, scaleup, cluster

JEL Classification: M13, L26, O33

Suggested Citation

Autio, Erkko and Nambisan, Satish and Thomas, Llewellyn and Wright, Mike, Digital Affordances, Spatial Affordances, and the Genesis of Entrepreneurial Ecosystems (July 14, 2017). Forthcoming in Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal Special Issue on Entrepreneurial Ecosystems, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3003540

Erkko Autio (Contact Author)

Imperial College Business School ( email )

South Kensington Campus
Exhibition Road
London SW7 2AZ, SW7 2AZ
United Kingdom
+447786226452 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://www.imperial.ac.uk/people/erkko.autio

Tilburg University School of Economics and Management ( email )

P.O. Box 90153
Tilburg, 5000 LE
Netherlands

Satish Nambisan

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute ( email )

Troy, NY 12180
United States

Llewellyn Thomas

University of Navarra, IESE Business School ( email )

Avenida Pearson 21
Barcelona, 08034
Spain

Mike Wright

Imperial College London ( email )

South Kensington Campus
Exhibition Road
London, Greater London SW7 2AZ
United Kingdom

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